The Moments that define us
by Cheekbonesandcoatcollar
Summary: Nikki would do anything for Dean. She would suffer any pain and die a thousand deaths if it meant that she could save the man she loves more than life itself. Set after Season 4 during the apocalypse. Rated T for future stuff to be safe. DEAN/OC
1. Prologue

**The moments that define us - Dean Winchester**

**-**

**Chapter 1- Prologue- The future**

**-**

**For you American readers, Im slightly behind in the newest series sooo im pretty much ignoring the series because I prefer to write my own stuff rather than put my characters in situations that readers have aready seen, though some, like Jo and Ellens deprture and the more important events to do with the angels and Luifer etc will be.**

**-**

Her head was pounding, her whole body throbbing painfully, she could barely draw in a rasping breath and thck smoke stung and watered her eyes.

The misty air was dense and strangely sharp, drifting towards her and peircing her body with tiny pinpricks of pain as if thousands of needles were entering her skin at once.

The shackles on her wrist and ankles seared her skin, leaving bubbling blisters and scars and the chains attached meant that she could barely move a muscle or change position, she was standing flat against a rough wall that scratched and scraped through her clothes, each arm was shackled at shoulder height and she sometimes thought that she was placed as if on a crucifix as a taunt. The air around her was dense and thick and the once beautiful Earth on which she still remained was now a burning, barron, charred abyss infested with evil of all kinds that she had once dedicated her life to destroying.

She couldn't remember how long she had been here, maybe it was days, months, maybe it was years, she had no idea. She didn't really know much of anything, there was no daylight, no warm sunlight, so time was meaningless, there was no conversation, no noise other than the crackling of flames and the distant screams of innocent humans being ripped and pulled apart, and no other life that she saw other than that of demons. She probably wouldn't even remember her own name if he didnt say it everytime came to inflict just a little more pain on her.

All she really knew, all she was really sure of was that Sam was dead. Castiel was dead. Bobby was dead. Everyone she loved was dead. And Dean was lost, broken, pushed to the edge by the death of his brother with no means of any deal to bring him back, Dean had dissapeared, and she sometimes, in the worst nights and days feared he was dead. It was far too late for Sam, Cas and Bobby, her freinds, but maybe if Dean was still alive, which she hoped and prayed that he was, though she knew that praying meant nothing now that heaven had been defeated by Lucifers army, she could save his soul, make him Dean again, make him...

She heard a new sound, one that was so familliar, heavy booted footsteps that could only mean one thing, he was back.

She didnt know her torturers name, and his vessell changed almost everytime he came, though always male, as did the instrument of torture that he chose to use. The heavy metal door infront of her, she had no idea were she was, maybe a factory of some kind, opened inwards as it always did and she felt her body tense in anticipation of unbearable pain, as it always did. He came into the room, this time he was a stocky blonde man with and innocent cherub face, if his eyes werent their usual coal black she could almost mistake him for something good on this destroyed Earth.

His grin was its usual sardonic smirk of malice that could turn even the most beautiful of vessells repulsive.

"How are we today?" he asked, his voice the same gravely rasp as it was in every body he had ever possessed, he was the only demon that she knew of that could keep the same voice in a different body, though she knew this information meant nothing in her current predicament.

She didnt answer, she never did, she barely even acknowledged him anymore but for a flicker of her bruised eyes towards him. He laughed and said "I have something for you" as the chains that bound her loosened marginally, pulling and ripping at the seered skin beneath, she gasped at the pain then they finally came all the way off ripping the skin completely, the floor was hard as she landed with a thud and cry of pain, the gravely surface scraped her palms as she scrambled onto her knees. This was the first time he had ever taken off the chains, maybe he was letting her go? she highly doubted it, perhaps today he would finally kill her.

"Nikki?" her eyes widened, this was another voice she would recognise anywhere, under any circumstances, it was a voice that spoke to her in all her dreams when she dozed fitfully inbetween torture sessions, the voice that whispered in her mind throughout the pain and abuse that everything would be okay, that he would come for her, save her. The voice that kept her alive, not physically, but mentally over the time she had been here.

"Dean?" she whispered in a broken pathetic voice, hardly daring to beleive that this was real for the fear that she would suddenly wake up to the burning pain of a hot poker on her stomach or ther surroundings would suddenly dissolve away and she would find herself once again chained up with the gloating cherub faced demon mocking her for daring to believe something good could actually happen. She watched hopefully as three dark figured struggled into the room, the one in front restrained by the two behind and fighting fitfully, "Get off me dammit! I got it!" the other two threw him roughly to the ground in front of her and he mumbled his usual string of curses as he too scrambled onto his knees, ripping his worn blue jeans as the gravelly surface below them scattered and rattled.

"Is it really you?" she asked, reaching a burnt and bloodied hand towards him.

"Yeah its me, God what did they do to you?" He asked, his voice full of anger as it had been so many times in the past, he pulled her towards him in a tight embrace and stroked a hand down her knotted hair, placing a chaste kiss to her chapped lips as he pulled back, a kiss she had longed to feel again for so long that now it hardly felt real.

"Its okay now," he whispered exactly how she had dreamed he would every night, she felt tears prick at her eyes and croaked, "They told me you were lost, that you were one of them, then they said you were dead, I didnt know what to beleive, I thought I had lost you."

"Shhhhh, Its okay, they lie, thats what they do, I'm okay, we're okay, we're getting out of here"

"What? How?" she asked as he ever so gently thumbed tears from her cheeks, her eyes shot to the body that her captor inhabitted, the face was expressionless, the eyes blank, of course they would be when fully black, but he held no hint of a lie or betrayal, she looked back to the eyes of the man she loved and trusted with her life and repeated "How?"

"I made a deal," he began and as her eyes widened and her breath hitched, he hastily continued with "Nothing like that, no hell, no one year to live thing."

He gently took hold of her upper arms and they both rose to their feet, Dean strong and steady as she always remembered him to be, Nikki shaking, flinching as her entrie weight was transferred to her poor battered feet. Dean flinched too at the sight of her pain and ran a gentle hand down her blood and tear stained cheek, she felt her lips pull at the side in a ghost of a smile, a mere shadow of what it had once been, infact she had forgotten what it was like to smile or feel any emotion that made her want to do so until now, she couldnt help it, she would be free. Free to run away. To be with Dean, maybe eventually rejoin the fight to take back Earth, if such a fight existed.

"Dean? Are you crying? What's wrong?" she asked wiping the wetness from his eyes in much the same fashion as he had to her just minutes ago, he swallowed and bit his lip, suddenly not as strong and confident, this was the Dean it broke her heart to see, broken, sad, weak Dean, guilty and lonley, he bit his lip before whispering in a barely audible voice in her ear as he pulled her close once again "Please forgive me Nikki"

She frowned, which hurt her still pounding head and said "What...?", her voice croaked to a stop, her eyes widened in pain and shock as the knife plunged deep into her scarred and burnt stomach, the pain was almost unbearable, it would have been if she wasn't so used to bearing torture and abuse. The hurt spread upwards and downwards and over her whole body, until everywhere ached worse than it ever had before, warm wet blood gushed over her hand that she hadn't realised she had pressed to the wound until now, she lifted her head to Dean who had stepped back and dropped the bloody knife to the floor as it he were allergic , her face was a picture of shock, sadness and betrayal, "Dean?" she said, he didnt react, maybe she had said it in her head, How could he? She didnt understand, Dean loved her, she knew that he always had, How could he do this? How could he hurt her, these questions meant nothing to her though, what scared and hurt her the most, more than not knowing answers, more than the physical pain of all her time down here before this and what she felt now was the knowledge that Dean was truly lost, she was all he had left in this ruined world and he had just taken it, he was not Dean anymore.

She took a step forward, not sure of what she intended to do, maybe she wanted to hurt Dean, her hunter instincts returning, or maybe she was just so pathetic that even thouugh he had killed her she just wanted to feel his arms around her one more time, she had no idea, her head was spinning and tunring and she felt sick and dizzy and... her wobbling legs gave out and she crashed forward into Deans solid frame, his arms wrapped around her like they had so many times in the past, in the thrawls of ecstacy in moments when the need to comfort or be comforted took over everything else, or even if he had had to hold her back from attacking Sam or Castiel, which had happened often enough.

Her vision left her, everything went black and she vaguely wondered if there was still a heaven somewhere, if so would she go there? Or woud she just go deeper into hell to suffer at the hands of more evil creatures that the formers, but this time with Deans betrayal hanging over her head and breaking her heart and mind as well as body, this time with nothing to keep her going.

"Im sorry, Im so sorry, Im sorry" she thought she heard Dean mumbling over and over, but his voice was drifting away, everything was muffled and echoing until she could no longer hear any sound at all.

She knew she was dying.

**-**

**So This is the future of course, the story will go back to the past now and lead up to these events.**

**Let me know what you thought, complimeants, improvements corrections, anything really **

**thanks alot, please reveiw so I can make it better or just to tell me if you like dit at all. Thanksd for rerading =]]]]**

**Discalimer: No owning of Winchesters Im afraid. However if I did.....**


	2. A new dawn, A new day

**The moments that define us - Dean Winchester/OC**

**-**

**Chapter 2- A new dawn, a new day.**

**One year earlier- A few months after Lucifer was risen.**

-

Nikki woke with a start, sweat dripped from her cheeks and chest and matted her hair to her forehead. She felt flushed and tired, like she had barely slept at all, which, considering the throbbing ache of her shoulder and her pounding headache, she probably hadn't. She sat up straighter, habitually touching the blade she kept under her pillow and pulled the sheets back from her legs which were also covered in sweat, she thought that she must have had a nightmare, and stumbled through the darkness towards the motel rooms bathroom. Her hand found the light switch on the wall to her left, and the brightness bit at her eyes that had grown so accustomed to the darkness of the room, once her eyes had adjusted to the new light, she stepped fully into the bathroom and pushed her hair back from her face. Her ghastly reflection barely surprised her, her skin was pale and glistened with the remaining sheen of sweat, her eyes looked sunken and dark circles rimmed them and her lips were chapped and dry. Overall she looked tired and world weary, like some one who had seen to much and had no time to adjust. Though of course Nikki had had plenty of time, for the last four years she had been travelling America, hunting, anything and everything. Her work load, however, had grown considerably since the beginning of the apocalypse, it was well known amongst hunters what was happening, though the details were hazy, and while the rest of the world lived on in ignorant bliss, unaware even of demons and spirits, the hunting world was stretched further than ever before.

Nikki had no idea how the apocalypse had been started, when it had even began, or when it would end, all she knew of was the need to keep fighting, until it was over.

The last few months had been the most torturous of her hunting years, not only was there a much higher abundance of things that went bump in the night, but they seemed stronger, wiser and more confident with what they were doing an it seemed that they were all working to some larger plan. Maybe it had something to do with the devil escaping from hell. _No shit Nikki!_

She took a deep breath and splashed some cold water over her face, gasping slightly at the contrast of the cold water against her warm face. She then ran the glass she had placed on the sink for an occasion such as this, under the tap and gulped down two glasses. Feeling only slightly better she switched the light off and inched her way towards her bed in the darkness. He knee bumped into the mattress, and she leaned over, flicking the switch on the shabby lamp placed on the small bedside table and climbed back onto the uncomfortable mattress, compared to some of the places she had stayed this motel wasn't to bad, the paint wasn't peeling and the walls weren't mouldy, on such a small and often illegal budget what more could you ask for?

Nikki popped her neck and flipped open her phone, the time read 5.35am, she sighed, wondering if it was worth trying to get back to sleep, she had been planning an early start in the morning, after catching wind of a spirit just west of this town, now she wondered whether or not to sleep for a few more hours and leave later or to start getting ready right now, and catch up on sleep later on.

After a few minutes she climbed out of bed again and made her way to the main light of the room, she closed her eyes against the harsh glare again as she flicked it on. When she had grown used to it, she pulled a pair of jeans and a shirt and led them on the unmade bed. She showered, dressed and pulled her hair into a messy, still wet ponytail, she hardly ever bothered to blow dry her hair and she rarely bothered with any more makeup than a flick of mascara and a smudge of dark eye shadow, her skin was naturally smooth and even when she was as tired as she was now, it looked fairly unblemished but for an inch long scar along her left cheekbone, acquired on her first ever hunt.

She pulled her leather jacket over her shirt and zipped it up half way, tossing her heavy duffel bag over her shoulder, she didn't carry much with her, another bag in the trunk of her car packed full of clothes, jeans, shirts, socks, underwear, two smart suits for when the need to go undercover raised its head, one cocktail dress for that same reason and a pair of three inch heels, a swimsuit that she had never worn and a skirt that she had also never worn. In the bag on her shoulder she carried weapons, a gun, silver bullets, normal bullets, a bottle of holy water, two knives, not including her trusty blade that she always kept on her person or under her pillow and a book that she had compiled over the last four years of spells and information on demons and spirits, something that had served her well, especially in the last few months.

She took one last glance around the room, tapping her phone in her pocket, her laptop bag over her left shoulder and her blade down the back of her jeans, to make sure she had not forgotten anything and closed the door behind her, she tiptoed down the slightly shabby corridor so as not to wake any of the other guests.

No one was at the reception desk when she made it out there so she put the keys on the desk, she had paid for her room in advance so the money aspect was taken care of, these hotel owners were not stupid when it came to selling rooms.

She made her way to her truck, a rusty blue thing, she wasn't really one for cars and she had no idea how an engine worked, but this truck moved, had plenty of room, wasn't too much to run and had a good stereo. It may not have been the best looking truck in the world but it got the job done. She threw her bag onto the back seat and heard the weapons inside clatter together, and climbed into the front, the start of the engine seemed like a roar in the almost silence outside and she cringed, hoping she hadn't woken anyone, after all she didn't like being woken when she was in a peaceful sleep, by people, cars, or anything else, why should anyone else?

As she let the engine warm, she flicked the light above her head and checked the map she kept folded in the glove compartment, when she was absolutely sure of where she was heading and had realised that it was in fact a lot further away than she had first realised she pulled swiftly from her parking space and headed in that direction, it would take roughly a days ride if she stopped off for meals and restrooms, though she hoped to get there earlier so she could find a roughly presentable motel to stay in, before she began to work the case the following morning.

The journey took as long as she had expected it to and she arrived in town late that night, she climbed from the car, lugging both her duffel bags out of the car with her, she opened her trunk and pulled some extra books, research and a few more weapons, anything that she may need for this investigation, quickly placing them in the emptier of the two bags, so as not to be seen hauling satanic looking weapons by a member of the public. That had happened once before and she had been in police custody for hours before she finally managed to convince them that the weapons were not hers, she had found them and was on her way to the station to hand them in. Then she had gone another two days without any weapons before she managed to steal them back. At this time, she really didn't need that happening.

Once she had all she needed she hoisted the bags into the reception area of the motel, and dropped her clothes bag as she pressed down on the little silver bell, that she had assumed only ever appeared in movies. "Coming love!" a motherly voice said, as a plump lady who looked to be in her fifties trotted from the room behind the desk where a small television was blaring a little too loudly, a Simpson's re-run Nikki thought.

Once Nikki had ordered a room and handed her money over in advance, and the older lady began rustling through some of the drawers in the reception desk, Nikki surveyed the parking lot through the window, there were few cars, a small fiesta, probably red, a large white van with some unintelligible writing along the side and a shiny black car that looked quite old, like something her father would have loved.

"Here we go dear, room 14, I see you were admiring that black car out there, my husband said it's an Impala, a fine piece apparently, nice young couple came in it, tall guy with a short guy, very handsome they both were! Made me feel young again!"

Nikki laughed at the woman's large smile and thanked her, and followed her directions down the corridor. "Ten, eleven, twelve, fourteen" she struggled with her bags and belongings for a while, as she fought to unlock the door, the door swung inwards and she stumbled through, launching her bags onto the bed that right now looked extremely comfortable.

"Excuse me miss?" a deep voice said form behind her and she jumped, whirling towards the sound, stood in her doorway, just outside of her room was a tall, handsome man, he had dark hair, swept back from his forehead and a small smile on his lips, "You dropped your phone"

"Oh," Nikki sighed, realising she had in fact dropped it, as it was now held in the mans outstretched palm. "Thank you" she said, taking the phone from his hand with her own smile.

"No problem"

She frowned as she looked out into the hall which he had just stepped back into.

"Something wrong?" he asked, his features mirroring her own.

"I was just wondering why motels never have a room 13"

"Bad luck I guess"

"Sammy!" another male voice shouted from inside the room that was the only other one with its door open, "What's taking so long?" The guy Nikki now knew as Sammy smiled and held up the chocolate bar that Nikki had not noticed until now, "He's always hungry" Nikki laughed as he turned away then also foe the first time noticed the vending machine just to the left of her door.

"Thanks again, for this" she said and he nodded, she closed the door behind her and pushed her bags from her bed, falling on top of the covers with a sigh, fully clothed but too tired to care, and she fell into sleep.

-

**That's it for now, Please review =]**


	3. Spirit

**The moments that define us - Dean Winchester/OC**

**Chapter 3- Spirit**

**And to Trickster707, don't worry about your empty-headedness (it must be a word because it says on this document that it is spelt correctly) thanks for sticking with me, especially when I decide to be annoying and delete things! =]**

_Flash forward_

_Months before the prologue._

Nikki wasn't sure how long she'd been here now, hours maybe, her wrists still ached from the iron hard grip of the demons who had dragged her into this room, and the shackled around her wrists and ankles were cold, wrought iron. Her chest felt heavy, the air was thicker than it was outside of this room, though it wasn't too much better, the world wasn't the same, not since the battle. Everything was different, destroyed and now she'd been caught. She just prayed that the others had escaped. She glanced around again, nothing moved, the room seemed huge, yet close and tiny at the same time, no doubt some black kind of magic taught to the demons by Lucifer himself.

She had long since given up struggling against the chains that bound her, there was no way out, she was more stuck than a demon in a devils trap and it didn't seem like that was going to change any time soon, this was it, her fate, destiny, or whatever the other crap Castiel had so vehemently preached. This was where her life had always been leading, this room, these moments, not some momentous battle like Sam and Dean, but inevitable torture and death, just another name lost and forgotten in the midst of the apocalypse. The waiting was torture enough, she had never been one to patiently sit around and wait for anything, especially something she really didn't want, like torture. And death. The silence surrounding her should have been good, a repute, but instead it chilled and unnerved her, the Croatoan virus had all but wiped out the opportunity for silence along with most of the human race, everything just seemed wrong.

A loud crack snapped her from her reverie and her head shot towards the large metal door, suspiciously like those you would see in bank vaults. She craned her neck, she couldn't see much, outlines, forms, struggling, then she heard a dull thud and one of the forms fell limp, the others bustled around, two of them she thought, dragged the other, she narrowed her eyes, able to make out a face here and there. She thought one of them might be one of the demons who had dragged her in, she couldn't see who it was that they were now hoisting up onto the shackles opposite her, the demons large shoulders blocked the view of his face. She could tell the body was a he, the jeans were familiar, the shoes. The demons moved away and she snapped her eyes shut, feigning sleep until she heard the door shut behind them. She waited a few moments more, straining her ears for any noise out of place to signal that one had stayed behind. Once she heard nothing, she opened her eyes again and groaned, eyes watering, if he hadn't gotten away then it was highly unlikely that many of the others had.

Shackled to the wall, he was still, smeared with blood, some his own, most from the Croatoan sufferers, a gash marked his forehead and his usually dark hair was darker and matted.

"Cas…"

_The Present_

Nikki had researched to her hearts content the night before, so she was more than ready to face the spirit that night. She didn't know why, but it was always better to face a spirit at night, though the night-time was infinitely creepier than the warmth of sunlight, because of this she still had almost a full by the time she woke up the next morning. She felt rested and comfortable and was thankful she hadn't had a nightmare this time, when she had nightmares she barely slept at all, and was never fully prepared for hunts, neither did she have the best reflexes and that was when she sustained her worst injuries.

She had spent most of the day roaming, eaten at a little diner called _Joe's_ just around the corner from the motel and spent the afternoon and the start of the evening finding and sorting the weapons she would need for that night. She was rested, prepared and ready and it took less than ten minutes to find the place the spirit was next to strike, mainly because she noticed a group of kids running from a small house, trampling the well kempt garden, terror etched over their faces. It didn't seem like the normal way to leave a house party, though Nikki hadn't partied since her eighteenth birthday, now, at twenty four, she wasn't sure if things could have changed. But that was just ridiculous, no one left parties like that and her instincts had served her well thus far in her life, she wasn't about to ignore them now. The battered truck squealed painfully as she swerved onto the road opposite, she quickly thrust her rock salt gun into the back of her jeans, dropping extra rounds into her pocket with the lighter she kept specifically for burning corpses, a morbid concept she knew.

She slammed the truck behind her, key fumbling in the lock as she fought to secure it, time she couldn't waste, but then she couldn't risk anybody getting their hands on her weapons. Or laptop for that matter, research was so important to this job, and because of this, the internet was her best friend.

She sprinted across the road, thankful it was empty and grabbed one of the frightened teenagers by the shoulders, "What happened?"

"Jenny! She's dead! Months now!" The girl gasped, eyes bloodshot, "But she was in there!"

"The dead girl is called Jenny?" Nikki asked, shaking her slightly.

"Yeah!" The girl screamed, shouldering past Nikki , who herself shouldered her way through the teenagers, towards the house. No one spared her a glance as she ran towards the source of their fear, to wrapped up in running away.

She slammed through the open door, drawing her gun as she did so.

She tiptoed through the house, slowly searching room by room, heart hammering, the loudest thing she could hear. She knew that at any moment that Jenny kid could pop up, dead as hell and very pissed, after all you didn't tend to murder people if you were a happy ghost. A quiet shuffle pulled her from her thoughts, and she whipped to her left, gun raised and cocked, she frowned as she saw something dark move, it looked like a leg, tucked behind a large cabinet.

"Hello?" she asked quietly, "Jenny?"

A sob was her only answer as she picked her way through beer cans and things left over from the previous party, as well as the broken glass and destruction left over from the hasty exit. "Are you okay?" she asked, having discerned that the sob had come from a human rather than a spirit, it wasn't eerie enough to have come from a restless spirit.

"Hey? It's okay. I wont hurt you, I'm here to help you." she cooed as she drew closer to the girl, kneeling in front of her, pushing the gun down the back of her jeans, the last thing this kid needed was a stranger holding a gun to her face.

"Tel me what happened."

"Jenny" the girl sobbed, "She's here, she wants to kill me."

"Why? Why would she want to do that kid?" Nikki asked, ears on alert for any sound out of place.

"It was our fault, me, Bobby and Rhiannon, we did it, it was all our fault!" then she dissolved into more sobs and anything else she said was indecipherable. Bobby Chambers and Rhiannon Carter were the two victims, their suspicious deaths had been what had drawn Nikki here in the first place. Why was their old friend after them? What had they done that had made her return from death to kill them?

"I'm going to get you out of here kid." Nikki said, as a cold hand wrapped around her neck from behind.

**That's it for now, Please review =]**


	4. Meet Sam Winchester Again

**The moments that define us - Dean Winchester/OC**

**Chapter 4- Meet Sam Winchester… Again.**

**To those of you who have recently alerted or favourited me, please review, so I know what's good or bad, improvement comes from reviews. =]**

**I'm so sorry I'm taking so long to update! I'm an awful person I know! I got carried away with watching the series, then because what happened went completely away from what I had in mind I got confused, but basically…**

**I'm pretty much going to go completely off canon hope no one minds too much! Let me know! =]**

**Is everybody okay with the two story line thing going on? Like the flash forwards and the present day? I just think its better than doing them separately, Let me know what you think on that subject! Thanks!**

_**Flash forward**_

_Months before the prologue_

"_Cas…"_

"Castiel?" she croaked, tears spilling as blue eyes met hers reluctantly. "Cas? You okay?" Her friend and fellow warrior nodded bravely, his angelic resolve not wavering once, even though, after a year of knowing him, knowing his emotions and small facial quirks she was well aware of the pain in his eyes and the strain in his voice.

She hesitated, thought she heard a sound, but hadn't, "The others?" she questioned, dreading the answer.

"Sam and Bobby ran one way, Dean the other." he replied vaguely, "There were no major injuries."

She sighed in relief, at least they were safe.. For now.

"We will not survive this Nikki." Castiels voice broke through her relief and shattered it to a million pieces, "The likelihood that the others will too is a low percentage to say the least. Bobby is old, he cannot last much longer, Sam's resolve is broken, his heart broken by guilt and Dean is weaker than he has ever been, he has no will to go on and of course we are already in the enemies grasp, at their mercy at any time."

"Gee Cas, how optimistic." she quipped. Her voice lacked the necessary cheer and strength, her face the usual smile, and she swallowed down a lump in her throat, listening to the resolve that as long as she kept her mind she would be okay.

Nikki bit back the tears, and fought back against the little voice in her head that argued, _He's right, you're all dead, you'll never see them again. You'll never see _Dean_ again. _She closed her eyes and waited for whatever the hell was coming next.

_Present day._

Nikki gasped at the cold had that encased the back of her neck, squeezing her eyes shut as she felt her body lift from the ground caused from the unrivalled strength that spirits seemed to gain when they returned intent on revenge. She could hear the girl screaming as she hit the floor hard, on the other side of the room, sliding along the floor until her back slammed against the wall. "Ow." she groaned, picking herself up slowly, eyes immediately falling on the huddled form of the girl who was thankfully, as of yet, unharmed. "Whats your name?" Nikki stage whispered along the room, crouching where she had fallen, much more alert now, ignoring the thumping in her head. "Hey! What's your name?"

"Hannah." the girl whimpered, not bothering to whisper herself, "Hannah Isaac."

"Okay, Hannah. I need you to be quiet okay. I know you're scared but I need you to stop crying, just until I can get you out of here. You hear me?" The girl, Hannah she now knew, bit her lip, nodded bravely, wide eyed with fear and completely trusting.

If Nikki was honest with herself she didn't really know what she was doing, she never did, even the easiest of hunts could not be planned moment for moment and if they were planned it never usually turned out that way anyway. No spirit could be counted on to appear in front of you rather than behind, no spirit could be expected to stand still whilst you shot them with rock salt, or stand and watch as you burned their remains. Hunts were based on luck and timing, nothing more. And, if an angry spirit decided to throw you against a wall in the first minute or two of said hunt, well that was just rotten luck.

Nikki patted her hand around her head where she had hit the wall, thankful there was no blood which meant there probably wouldn't be a concussion or any long term damage either, which was a good thing in Nikki's eyes.

She considered asking the girl to come to her, but upon glancing around the room again she figured it was better for her to be where she already was, it was more secluded, hidden, not necessarily safer, nowhere here was safe, but better than being in the open like Nikki herself. "Hannah. You have to stay really still and really quiet. No matter what happens you don't move a muscle until someone comes to get you."

Whether that person would be Nikki herself or a police officer she didn't know.

She pushed her fingers down the back of her jeans feeling for her gun, cursing when she realised it must have fallen out of her jeans at some point. _Probably when I was flying through the air_, she thought wryly as her eyes raked along the room, picking up the gun closer to the girl than Nikki.

"Dammit!"

She couldn't ask the girl, Hannah, to get it for her, for she now seemed to be following orders and had her head huddled between her legs, in the foetal position, whole body shaking. Nikki glanced around again and on noticing no sign of a spirit, she ran in a crouch to where her gun lay and once she had secured it in her hand, shot around, calling, "Jenny! You here?" A little unorthodox she would admit but it tended to do the trick usually. "Jenny, you don't have to do this. You don't have to hurt Hannah."

At the mention of the teenagers name, she heard a growl to her left and immediately swung around, firing a round in the direction of the noise. Hitting only the wall, as the spirit dematerialised, Nikki cursed again, a habit she really should rid herself of, her father would be ashamed, her mother livid if she heard such words coming from her daughters mouth.

She glanced to Hannah again to make sure she was still there and alive, and wondered on how she was going to get the girl out of there, if she could get her to safety then she could get to the cemetery and burn the corpse, she already knew where the girl, Jenny was buried. It was just a case of getting there. Quickly forming, a probably ineffective plan, she stumbled towards the cowering girl and spat, "Hannah. Get up now!"

Hannah cowered deeper into herself and Nikki grimaced, her voice taking a cold edge, "Hannah, I will leave you here."

At that blatant lie, the girls head shot up, tearstained red and she scrambled off of the ground, latching hard onto Nikkis arm, once she realised that the girls grip was unflappable she swapped the gun from the hand it was currently in, to the other, her left, not her best hand but she could shoot with it well enough if the need arose. No doubt, she would need to, before she left the house.

She began to run towards the door, dragging the terrified teenager behind her, when, as if on cue, the dead girl appeared before them, the teenagers gasp matched her own as they stopped abruptly, Nikki shooting, and missing again. It seemed like the spirit was playing more of a cat and mouse game than a murder game. Though, her suspicions were proved wrong when a familiar cold hand clamped onto her shoulder, and Hannah s too from the sound of the girls wretched scream and yanked them back, both females hitting the floor with their backsides in a painful bang.

"Why do I always hit the floor?" Nikki murmured to herself as she felt around for her gun which she had, as usual, dropped as she'd been attacked. She couldn't see Hannah either, but she could hear her sobbing somewhere, she had obviously up and run very quickly. Then her back hit the floor and there was a hand around her neck and the spirit above her. She grunted as the hand squeezed. The girl was probably pretty in life, but now her dark hair was matted in sticky blood, her skin was whiter than the purest clouds, her eyes red from burst vessels, blue veins and black blue bruises covered her pale skin and she snarled angrily. Nikki stretched, hoping that with some luck she could grab her gun when suddenly the spirit dissolved after a loud bang above her head. Nikki coughed as the pressure left her neck, and scrambled up, grabbing her gun, expecting another foe and instead coming face to face with the tall guy from the hotel, Sammy, she remembered, only now he was not smiling and she was also face to face with the muzzle of his gun.

"Who are you?" his deep voice asked, not the same hint of kindness there had been when he had returned Nikkis phone.

"Nikki Ryan." she answered automatically, realising straight away that he too was a hunter, his attire, the way he held a gun, the way he had shot the spirit, it could only lead to one conclusion and he lowered his gun at the same time a she, she realised that he had come to the same conclusion as her.

"Sam Winchester." he said politely, "You okay?"

"I'm fine." she replied, "How do we get the girl out of here?" she indicated Hannah who she could now see, in the same place she had been before. Some escape attempt that had been.

"I got someone going for the corpse." Nikki figured he meant the guy who had wanted the chocolate the night before.

"Good." she grumbled, "So we just gotta keep her alive til he's finished?"

"Seems that way." Sam replied, shooting her a small smile, and raising his gun again before shouting, "Duck!"

**Disclaimer: No. I don't own anything at all =[ Though I truly wish I did =]**

**That's it for now, Please review =]**


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